2009 - Day 8 - Ministry In Pain

January 8, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Ministry In Pain

Passage of the Day: Genesis 40: 1 - 3 1 It came to pass after these things that the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. 3 So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined.

My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll reminds me of a truth in this day’s devotional from his book, Great Days with the Great Lives, from which I’ve been studying the life and times of Joseph this month. He points out that often believers, i.e., fellow Christians, find that God has “arranged,” by His awesome timing and Spirit-driven “engineering,” for just the right person or people to be brought into the life of someone who’s experiencing physical or emotional pain or need. Or maybe the Lord arranges for you, with just the right empathy or skill set, to be joined in God’s timing with another who needs what you can give to them to minister to their needs.

That is the case in today’s highlight passage from Gen. 40. Here were two key figures from Pharaoh’s court, his butler and baker, who had, for some reason angered the king; and Pharaoh, having the power to do so, threw these two in prison. And lo and behold, the two landed in prison with Joseph who, if you read on in Gen. 40, had just right God-given abilities to minister to these two. Now as it later turned out Joseph would only be able to reach out to give one of the two comforting news. To the other he would have to prophesy his death. But it was God who clearly brought these two men together with Joseph for God’s later purposes.

Have you ever been in need of comfort or help or direction; and all of sudden there was just the right person who came into your life to give you a lift or directions or help? Or maybe someone’s need was presented to you; and it was clear that God had brought this person before you because you were THE person who could minister to that one’s need.

I have been on both sides of this scenario; and I recall back to 1983 when I was in a spiritual wasteland, recognizing how spiritually weak I was. And one morning a Christian friend, who had heard me speak of my needs, loaned me a cassette tape where I “just happened” to hear a message by a quadriplegic young man who said that he got his strength from Christ. And on that very morning when I heard that tape on the way to work, I arrived at my desk to find a pamphlet lying there, which read, “I can do all things through Christ Who gives me the strength. … Phil. 4: 13.” I then looked at my digital desk clock, which read the month and the day as 4 – 13 [It was April 13th]; and in that moment of “coincidence,” which had been administered by two separate people who gave me the tape and the pamphlet with God’s timing to break me to my core, I went from being an agnostic to a believer; and my life has never been the same.

Never underestimate how God can bring you into the life of someone who needs exactly what you can offer that needy person. Or when you’re down or out, be praying for and on the alert for just the right person to be brought your way by God to address your needs. God’s good at that; so, let Him be the merciful and graceful God He is.

My Prayer Today: Lord, I praise you for your grace in doing for your children what we many times cannot do for ourselves. Amen